Rants & Reviews

02 February 2016

Only men sit

I need a new office chair. I’m a writer, so I’m in my computer chair about 12 hours a day. The last one I inherited from a friend who died. Now 6 or 7 years later, I suddenly realize there is no seat left. I’m just sitting on the metal under-structure.

The only place that sells decent chairs for under $500 seems to be Staples. Despite my pressing need, I have visited three different Staples branches to try their chairs again and again, without buying one. Why? Because apparently the chair manufacturers have not been informed that women ever sit down. And because they think every man is 6’ tall.

There are at least three results from the fact that the designers and engineers are probably all men:

1) Out of 20 chairs that I tried in Staples, 13 did not lower low enough for me to really plant my feet on the ground. Some of them didn’t lower enough for me to touch anything but my toes to the ground. I’m now 5’2” – that is not so far out of human range to be excluded from a seat.

2) The seats in over half of the chairs are too big, especially from back to knee. If I sit all the way back, my legs don’t bend over the edge.

3) The arm rests are built for arms that hang down from shoulders that are much wider than mine. So the most I can do is rest my forearms on the inner edge of the arm rests, which is very uncomfortable.

All I want is to find something small, compact, comfortable, and healthy. I’ve got my credit card ready. I want to buy. And yet, I have still not found a fitting place to deposit my butt.

Comments

Sue,
I have an 18-year-old desk chair from IKEA. It raises and lowers to the height you want. I solve the back problem with one of those specialist back cushions which encourage the 'proper' sitting position - I tie it into place on the chair. You get them in specialist back treatment stores. Can't remember what you call them. No solution to the arm rests so often just have my left arm resting. I don't know whether it's 'good' for me or not, but I also have a medium size exercise ball rolled under the desk - it fits loosely but snuggly under it. I pop my legs up on it from time to time and it feels great to interrupt the downward flow of everything into my feet. I easily continue typing in this position. Have you tried IKEA? Of course if you could spend a fortune I bet you could find a solution and a thing of beauty. Love, sos
PS - class cancelled because teacher ill! I slept.

Oh you do Grumpy Old Woman so well. A lifetime of training for the role has paid dividends. And because you are unhappy about something men must be to blame. Clearly all chair designers must be men because there is a glass ceiling preventing a woman ever designing a chair, or perhaps women were too busy doing more important things, like changing the world, running for POTUS, or designing handbags.

By the way, arm rests are generally a bad idea. They encourage you to keep your shoulders raised and prevent you pulling the chair close enough to the desk. If you must have a chair, get one without them. When I worked in offices I always unscrewed them and stored them under the desk so that I could replace them when I left.

My current personal solution to this problem is that I don't have a chair. Or a desk. I sit on the floor. No, I'm not a writer, but I do probably spend about five hours a day at the computer. My laptop rests on an upturned plastic storage box because it happens to be the right height and I've not yet found a suitable piece of furniture. I could probably get one if I ordered from Japan or Korea. Or I might design and make one.

The chairs made for women (referred to as "typists" in the past) have short backs that don't allow you to rest your head and shoulders. I sat in those short-backed chairs for decades watching male executives lean back and rested their heavy heads. For my writing at home, I bought a high-back Staples chair and at 5'8" I just about fit. But those short-backed chairs left me with a lot of neck pain and the need for therapy. Furniture is always disappointing. It needs to be designed to fit the various shapes and sizes we all have.